Poet and novelist Cherry (My Life with Dr. Joyce Brothers, 1990, etc.) makes a memorable first foray into nonfiction with this detailed chronicle of a long-distance, long-term love affair between her and prominent Latvian composer, Imant Kalnin. From their first meeting in Moscow in 1965, in the lobby of the Metropol Hotel, Cherry and Kalnin were virtually inseparable. Although forced apart by the end of Cherry's brief tour of the Soviet Union, they remained in touch through constant correspondence until time and distance wrought inevitable changes and each married someone else. Ten years later, a new chapter began when they realized their mistakes and decided to marry each other instead. Another short visit to the USSR brought a renewed intensity of feeling, but no marriage, as Kalnin's wife refused to give him a divorce and the authorities proved recalcitrant. Years of frustration followed, with intercepted mail, Soviet and American bureaucratic snarls of Kafkaesque dimensions, and KGB harassment, ending in the ruin of Kalnin's career and his being proclaimed a ``nonperson.'' Yet another meeting was made possible recently in New York through the blessings of perestroika and the generosity of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, but the time for marriage had passed. By turns a love story, travelogue, rhapsody, and metaphysical discourse, Kelly's lyrical (though occasionally flippant and banal) assessment gives clear expression to the incredible complexity of human affection thwarted by cold war realities.
Pub Date: April 1, 1991
ISBN: 0-8071-1620-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: Louisiana State Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 1991
BOOK REVIEW
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
